Who Was the Padres Best Offseason Addition?

The San Diego Padres made it all the way to the NLCS last season and got better, as President of Baseball Operations and General Manager A.J. Preller improved the lineup and rotation. Here are some of the new faces we’ll be watching over the next few weeks in Spring Training (not all of the following names are going to be on the major league roster):

• David Dahl
• Xander Bogaerts
• Seth Lugo
• Pedro Severino
• Matt Carpenter
• Wilmer Font
• Brent Honeywell
• Adam Engel
• Nelson Cruz
• Julio Teheran

As you may have noticed, I didn’t include Nick Martinez and Robert Suarez although they were free agents. They aren’t considered additions because they were on the team last season. Fernando Tatis Jr. should be treated like an addition since he didn’t play last year but he was already in the organization so he also wasn’t included for this exercise. My question to you: who was the best offseason addition by the Padres? Give your thoughts in the comments!

I say Bogaerts. Yes, I know that’s the easy answer but it’s still the correct answer. Dahl might start but not every day. Carpenter is going to platoon. Lugo might not work out as a starter and isn’t an every day player so I can’t say he’s going to provide the most impact this year.

Bogaerts, who is a four-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion, didn’t have his best season in 2022 but still finished with a 5.8 bWAR (which would’ve been second-best on the Padres last year), hitting over .300 with a 131 OPS+ in 150 games for the Boston Red Sox. There is so much talent on this team that it seems like Bogaerts will be going into the season a little under the radar—but that’s not a bad thing.